NEWSLETTER
The Blackhawks found a way to blow a 2-0 lead to the Leafs on Wednesday night — making it seven straight games without a win to open the season — but somehow, their post-game media availability was even worse.
Patrick Kane — who is currently in COVID-19 protocols — spoke to the media over Zoom from a location away from the stadium. And Jonathan Toews followed from the United Center after the loss to Toronto. Both addressed the allegations against former Blackhawks coach Brad Aldrich, neither said exactly what you want to hear.
It was company speak for much of it, but both Kane and Toews made tone-deaf comments essentially eulogizing their former boss, Stan Bowman. Their head coach, Jeremy Colliton, did the same on Wednesday morning, and at some point, someone has got to tell these guys that no comment is probably better than these comments right now.
I’m going to pull together some comments of note from last night by Kane and Toews, but I urge you to head to the Twitter page of Ben Pope, who took the time to type out everything verbatim. Considering the topic, proper context is essential, and that’s why I appreciated Ben’s dedication to details last night.
The first thing that bothered me in all of this last night was that Kane and Toews both said that they didn’t know about the incident until after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This may very well be true, but that means that they knew at some point not long after, and they elected to remain silent at best and culpable in the bullying related to the incident that Beach spoke about at worst.
Kane says he didn't know about the sexual assault and didn't even know John Doe was Beach until today.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 28, 2021
As assumed, Patrick Kane stuck to the story that he wasn’t aware of the sexual assault that occurred in 2010 and that he didn’t know that John Doe was Beach until today, which is pretty disappointing. Especially considering Toews pretty much contradicted the notion that no one ever knew about it, just minutes later.
Toews said that he, like Kane, wasn’t aware of the incident during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that he learned of the incident before the start of the 2010-11 training camp, which is different than what the players had been saying previously, denying any knowledge of the incident whatsoever.
Jonathan Toews says he heard the Aldrich story from other guys outside the Sutton Place Hotel before Day 1 of 2011 training camp, by which point Aldrich had left the Blackhawks.
I asked him if he still wish he'd done something then, when he did hear about it: pic.twitter.com/cVOkM5KpvU
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 28, 2021
Like Jeremy Colliton yesterday morning, both players did a terrible job when asked about Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, and others involved who are now departed from the organization.
Here's what Patrick Kane said about his reaction to the investigation results and Stan Bowman's resignation: pic.twitter.com/6fp51izF7T
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 28, 2021
While Kane’s portion of the media session felt rehearsed/pre-determined, they came across better than the words from Toews, who was essentially defending Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac, stating that the two were “not directly complicit.” In fact, at one point, Toews said that it was unfair that Bowman and MacIsaac lost their jobs due to this investigation.
Toews was asked, in this question, if his opinion of Bowman and MacIsaac has changed. This was his full response: pic.twitter.com/38CW7zzmBj
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 28, 2021
Yikes. Jeremy Colliton wasn’t much better, as he started his portion of the presser by walking back similar comments about Stan Bowman that he has made on Wednesday after practice.
Jeremy Colliton leads postgame by addressing his interview this morning.
"I made a mistake in not being more specific about my sympathy and admiration for the courage of the victims." https://t.co/zR3u0j7zWH
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 28, 2021
The Blackhawks have been pretty bad this season, both on and off the ice but on Wednesday night, they found a way to take two L’s in a matter of 30 minutes.
